The Velo Project was on my wish list (yes, I do have a wish list of restaurants, bars and bakeries I want to visit) for a long time. It’s based in Mooloolaba, so me, a car-less person, living almost 100km away, had some trouble getting there. I needed a good excuse to rent a car for a weekend, because telling my husband Honey, we have to rent a car, because I want to go for breakfast to this place I found on the Internet wasn’t going to be an option. So when his brother came to our side of the world for a visit I had my perfect excuse: Let’s rent a car for a weekend, we need to show him around! And the first destination on Saturday morning was set on our GPS – The Velo Project.
Shortly after 9am we didn’t have much seating choice, just one big table left, which we had to share with strangers. We were presented with a standard menu and daily specials one, but because we were late some of the specials were not available. Our decisions were surprisingly quick that day, everyone picked something else and we sat back and started to look around at the decor waiting for breakfast to come.
I was absolutely in love with the decor. With every single bit of it. Some random looking things thrown into small space, suddenly made sense and created this unique environment.
– Sorry guys, there will be a delay with your order. We had a large group coming right before you and we’re working our way through their order first. – someone from the staff came to apologise. Yes, whatever, I’m actually glad this happened. I can continue staring at things and try to work out why they’re even here. Like this gorgeous Singer machine – it wasn’t clear to me, it’s not related with food, nor with the bike (fr. vélo) theme. But on the other hand, why not if it looks so good!
Our drinks – flat white $4, fresh juice (orange, pineapple, paw paw, lime, mint $7) and iced coffee $7.5 – showed up quite fast and lived up to our expectations. We got the caffeine kick, the freshness of fruits, sweetness and smoothness of iced coffee. And we appreciated attention to detail, not so random like things around anymore.
But it was food obviously we were the most curious about. – OMG. That huge board that waiter is carrying in this direction MUST be the English farmer’s breakfast my husband ordered – popped in my mind. – Special for you – said the guy, making more room and setting it in front of me. – English farmer’s breakfast for you – and the tiny plate landed in front of my husband – and crepes – (banana, chocolate and cream $16) another small plate for Hubby’s brother. – Was that all for you today?
– How… What…. Why on earth my special (warm camembert, figs, walnuts and toasted bread $15.5) is so enormous and English farmer’s breakfast (soft boiled egg, ham, pesto, mushrooms, tomato relish, rocket, fetta, toasted sourdough $20), which sounds like it should be this size is so small? – I had a feeling everyone in the restaurant was looking at my dish on that moment. It looked like an absolute showstopper and was so attractively presented I didn’t want to destroy it even though I was hungry as hell.
It would be a nice one to share between 2 people. Or one hungry food blogger. I was in heaven and back that day. Warm camembert on a pretty damn good sourdough with figs and walnut is like a poetry is like a music to my ears since then.
Hubby and his brother also enjoyed their breakfasts, but I had that feeling they were not as impressed as I was with mine.
Yes, it can get quite expensive there. In the end, it’s just a breakfast and the question is how much really can you pay for a breakfast? Is it worth it though? I’m not the best person to answer this one. Not after that beautiful breakfast I had there. The special was pretty special to me and the place itself was what I expected it to be and more.
If you like the retro-hipster ambience, you’ll enjoy it there. If you don’t mind paying ~$70 for breakfast for two, go for it.
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